Attentional abilities of children enrolled in immersion education in French-speaking Belgium

There is currently much controversy surrounding the cognitive advantages that are often associated with bilingualism, especially regarding the so-called executive control advantage. Recently, it has been suggested that bilingualism emerging from immersion education may not lead to an advantage in executive control, but rather to an improvement specifically at the level of attentional abilities. In order to test this hypothesis, the current large sample study involving over 500 participants investigated whether foreign-language immersion education can be associated with an advantage in attentional functions. We recruited 12-year-old children and 18-year-old adolescents enrolled in immersion education in French-speaking Belgium for at least 6 years. They were compared to non-immersed children and adolescents on tasks assessing auditory sustained attention, auditory and visual selective attention and divided attention. Several control variables such as nonverbal intelligence, socioeconomic status and other potentially relevant background variables were also considered. The results indicate no measurable difference between the immersed and the non-immersed participants, for none of the examined attentional abilities. These findings are discussed in the light of the cognitive implications of becoming bilingual through a formal education experience.